2. Identity of “I” is not my brain but my mind. When someone says "I", what does the "I" mean? For example, if I hurt my finger, I feel my finger is painful. Who is feeling the pain? It doesn't seem to be the finger, because with anesthesia in the brain the painful feeling goes away. Then, can we identify “I” with the brain? As we know, at the time of brain pain, there is still “someone” who is feeling the pain but who is “not” the brain itself. On the other hand, “I” feel pain when I am under verbal attack. “I” feel sad when a close friend died. Brain pain is different from “I feel painful”. It is the psychological pain which is in “me”. This pain is in “mind”, but not in the “physical” body. In other words, the real identity of “I” is the mind, which is outside my physical body and is not matter. But this identity of “I” is feeling all physical and psychological pain/happiness of a human being.
3. “I” am my spirit/mind. These days, as technology advances, many body parts can be substituted by artificial ones, such as false teeth. Suppose one day everything, including brain (because the brain is not myself, nor my mind), in the body can be substituted, and the “artificial body” can act just like a normal man. In this case, the man is still living and its identity still exists. Then what is the identity of the man? Wouldn’t it be the mind/spirit which controls the material body whether it’s natural or artificial? Also it’s interesting to ask whether this man with artificial body is a living man or a ghost. Yes, it’s a man as it is changed gradually from a natural man to an artificial man. But since there is no natural material in the body, the mind acts directly on artificial matter, it is no different from a ghost acting on and moving a desk.
All three considerations point to the same answer: the identity, “I”, is the mind/spirit rather than the material body.
We will show “I” is my mind rather than my body using video game as an example next time.
Pg 13
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